


Stark Revelation

by lanapanda



Category: Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, Marvel Avengers Movies Universe, The Avengers (2012)
Genre: Fluff, I think I did okay!, Multi, POV: Tony Stark, Pepperony - Freeform, Science Bros, Tony just stop now, denial is not a river in Egypt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-11-22
Updated: 2012-11-22
Packaged: 2017-11-19 06:23:05
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,161
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/570170
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lanapanda/pseuds/lanapanda
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Even your girlfriend can tell you're in love with him, Tony.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Stark Revelation

**Author's Note:**

> If this makes you laugh, then I did it right. (fingers crossed)

“I’m not in love with Bruce Banner,” I said. I wasn’t even sure how this came up as a topic of conversation, but then Pepper gave me the ‘oh Tony’ look from across the desk and I felt like I had to at least try to settle the issue before it got any further. 

 

“When’s his birthday?” She asked the question out of the blue so quickly that I answered practically in self-defense.   
  
“April 14th.”   
  
“What’s his favorite color?” Pepper didn’t look up at me — she was going through the security checklist for Bruce’s first speaking engagement as a consulting partner for Stark Industries. But the second question came rapid-fire right after the first.   
  
“Uh… yellow… goldenrod kind of color. The Forzieri with the French cuffs? The one I wore to the opening in Rome? That color.”   
  
“The $500, tailored Forzieri that you gave to him the day you met him?” Now she was smiling and shaking her head. That wasn’t always a bad sign, but I still couldn’t help feeling apprehensive that my girlfriend found this whole idea of my being in love with Bruce Banner so entertaining.    
  
“He kind of didn’t have any  _clothes_ , Pepper. I let him grab something out of my closet.”  No big deal, right? It wasn’t as though I didn’t have shirts to spare.   
  
“It was very nice of you, given the circumstances,” Pepper agreed. I watched as she added a few names to the ‘banned’ list. They were cronies of General Ross, mostly, and I doubted they’d ever try to show but it was better safe than sorry. “Does he have a favorite food?”   
  
“Those little Indian dumpling things with the mashed potatoes. Pepper, we’ve already done the menu. Besides, he’s good with anything other than Thai or shellfish.”   
  
“Mmhmm. You made a note here, I see it. One last thing, Tony.” Now she had stopped smiling, and had stopped typing and I definitely knew there was a trap forthcoming but damned if I knew how to get around it or what she was getting at. “What color are his eyes?”   
  
“Brown.”  I glanced towards the layout of the convention center we’d chosen for the event and called up the PA system on the hologram.   
  
“What color are mine? And don’t you  _dare_  look up at me right now, Stark.”   
  
Shit.   
  
“Um… they’re blue…greenish… hazel. Definitely hazel. Ish.” I snapped my fingers and stared up at the ceiling. Oh this was bad. This was so bad.   
  
“You’re in love with him, Tony,” she said lightly, without bothering to confirm how right or wrong I was about her eyes. I glanced at her and she was smiling and typing again. I had zero idea of how to deal with that. (And for the record, her eyes are very much hazel and I maintain that’s cheating because they sort of change color based on what she’s wearing.) “Really, it’s about time you fell in love with  _someone_.”   
  
“In my defense, I didn’t intentionally fall in love with Bruce Banner. I mean, as much as anyone can intentionally fall in love with someone, I definitely did  **not**  do that. Annnnd… it’s entirely his fault that I’m in love with him.” Going into damage control mode with your girlfriend staring at you in incredulity is probably one of the worst times to realize that yes, you really are in love with a guy and it’s about to bite you in the ass no matter what. Still, I tried.   
  
“His fault?” Pepper raised an eyebrow at me. “Really. How does that even work, Tony?”   
  
“It’s… I mean…” I looked around for something to compare it to, and came up blank. “He just… he does things.”   
  
“Things.”   
  
“Yeah, ‘things’! Like… like with his glasses. He’ll stand there and kind of fiddle with them while he’s thinking his way through a problem, and then look up at you from underneath his eyelashes and —BAM— instant brilliance, where he’s got the answer down to the ten thousandths place and the footnotes are done up and it all meshes and it’s perfect and he’s perfect and he doesn’t even realize how perfect he is which just makes it even  _more_  perfect.”   
  
“And that made you fall in love with him?”   
  
“Not just that.” Now I felt like I had to defend this thing I’d just realized, make it right somehow that I was apparently in love with two people, neither of which seemed to know it when it came to themselves. “It’s a lot of things. The same way it’s a lot of things with you, Pep. So it’s kind of his fault, and kind of yours. Maybe an 80/20 split.”   
  
“Now it’s my fault too?! Tony —” Pepper took a breath and rubbed the bridge of her nose with her right index finger. I knew that sign: exasperation. I could work with exasperation.   
  
“Well, you brought it up! You said ‘It’s like you’re in love with him’ when I was just telling you how I wanted the seating arrangements!”   
  
“You aren’t letting him sit at the head of the table because you want to sit right beside him, Tony.”   
  
“… that is technically true. But I also very specifically said that I wanted to sit next to you, too.”   
  
“Tony, what are you saying?”   
  
“I’m saying…” What  _was_  I saying? For that split second before I looked up into Pepper’s eyes again, I wasn’t sure, myself. Fortunately instinct took over. “I’m saying that I want to sit with the two most important people in my life and share a moment with them.”   
  
The corner of Pepper’s mouth quirked upwards and she smiled in spite of herself. If anyone was going to have a chance at convincing me about the existence of God, that would have been the time to show up. “Twelve percent of a moment?”   
  
“One hundred percent of a moment. I swear I can make this work. I’ll figure out a way if you’ll give me a chance.”   
  
“Oh Tony,” She smiled and shook her head and I was in the middle of rethinking my willingness to believe in imaginary deities when she said, “I’m not the one you’d have to convince. And I don’t see how you’re going to do it if you tell him it’s his fault.” Pepper tipped her head towards the door and then started gathering her laptop and briefcase.   
  
“What’s my fault?” Bruce asked and I wondered when I’d gotten so comfortable with his presence in my office that I’d stopped noticing when he wandered through from his adjoining one.   
  
“Um…”   
  
“I need to run, so I’ll let you two boys work this out. I still have to handle the final placement for the interactive demos at your talk next week, Bruce.” Pepper snapped her briefcase shut and grabbed her jacket.   
  
I watched as my girlfriend gave Bruce a sweet sort of smile and it was just distracting enough that she managed to get away. To be honest, the fact that she kissed me before she left also played a pretty big part in that distraction. Then there was Bruce, looking at me with quiet concern after she’d gone. I needed a drink, but Bruce didn’t like the drinking much and that meant I was going to have to wing it while completely sober.   
  
“So…” I began.  
  
“Look, Tony, if you’re having second thoughts about this talk—” Bruce tried to get straight to what he thought was the issue, and I could see it in his eyes, the worry, the hint of doubt ready to take over.   
  
“What? Nooo. No no no. Not at all, Bruce.”   
  
It had only been a little under a year since the incident with the Chitauri and it had taken every bit of verbal persuasion I knew how to muster in order to get him to stay on afterwards. The mental and linguistic gymnastics required to get Bruce Banner to agree to take on a consulting role and speak? Phenomenal. And now, I was about to risk losing all of that — my best friend, my business partner, and the only lab partner I’d ever had — on the chance that I could make this whole ‘relationship’ thing work with not just one, but two people. Clearly, being sober makes people insane.    
  
Bruce looked me over and half shrugged. He still looked a little wary, but I couldn’t blame him there. “Alright, if it’s not the presentation, then what’s this about?”   
  
“It’s not anything to worry about, Bruce,” I began, but the look on his face became a shade more concerned and I paused. The problem with telling Bruce Banner not to worry was that so many people had told him that self-same thing, only to prove untrustworthy when it came down to the wire. I crossed the room to where he stood by the doorway that led to his office and put a hand on his shoulder. “Really, it’s okay.”   
  
“So it’s my fault but it’s okay?” Bruce smiled and I thought I could just make out a faint blush there as he looked across at me. Not down. Not up. Across. We’re of a height, Bruce and I, and sometimes that’s distracting because I can easily picture him looking across at me like that in bed. Not that I had ever been in bed with Bruce, but still…  
  
“Exactly,” I replied and I will just chalk it up to being distracted by those warm brown eyes of his that I fell into such a tactical blunder so soon after being put on high alert for conversation-based traps thanks to Pepper.   
  
“Then you can tell me what it is and we can get it taken care of before we head out today.”   
  
“Ohhh… I think we’re going to need more than today to take care of it,” I hedged, trying to figure out a way out of the conversation. I hadn’t expected to have to explain everything twice to two different people in such a short amount of time. Hell, I was still explaining it to myself. I realized that my hand was still on Bruce’s shoulder, and he was still looking at me, but I couldn’t think of anything to say that would change the subject.   
  
“Then maybe you’d better tell me what it is now, Tony,” Bruce said. His voice was gentle. Even when making a demand, Bruce had this incredible gentleness about it that was almost like he was coaxing.   
  
I couldn’t say the words. I couldn’t look away. It was a little like being mesmerized, because even though I knew my hand was sliding from his shoulder to his back, and even though I could feel myself leaning closer and see the way his eyes were widening slightly, I couldn’t actually stop.   
  
“It’s just… this.” I brushed my lips against his own and suddenly, just like that, I was kissing Bruce Banner in the doorway between his office and mine. He leaned back against the doorframe and at first I thought he might be pulling away, but when I tried to move back a little, give him some space… he slid his fingertips against my cheek, and then into my hair and held me right there while we kissed.   
  
I’m not ashamed to admit that I forgot how to breathe.   
  
Also for the record: Sweet, gentle, mild-mannered Bruce Banner? He kisses like he’s made of sin. Everything slowed down and my entire world became the way it felt with his lips against mine, the way he tasted like coffee and cinnamon, the feel of his soft, curly hair against my fingertips, and the occasional faint gasp of pleasure that was either him or me — it was impossible for me to know which because my heartbeat was just too loud and too fast to say for sure.  
  
I am sure that we both definitely gasped when that kiss finally broke and we came up for air.     
  
“… I can see how this might take some time to work out,” Bruce murmured against my jaw, and I shivered rather than managing an answer right away. His thumb was against my bottom lip and every instinct in the world said to kiss it, so I did. Never let it be said that nothing good ever comes of poor impulse control.   
  
“Mmhm. But… we have time.”   
  
“And Pepper?”   
  
“She’ll… probably want to work it out too. With us. Once we figure out the ‘us’ part. If that’s okay.”   
  
Bruce ran his hand down my back and I found myself leaning close to him again. My hand never did leave his hair in all that time. Those curls are addictive; I cannot be convinced otherwise.   
  
“Yeah, that’s okay, Tony.” Bruce’s lips were against my temple this time, and the gentle affection of it made me shiver. “But you have to promise me something.”   
  
“Anything, Bruce.”   
  
“If anyone ever asks about… this ‘us’ we’re working on? It’s at least 50% your fault, too.”   
  
“Deal.”

**Author's Note:**

> First time writing fic with Tony as first-person POV. Definitely more fun than I thought it would be.


End file.
